Cover for athletic grounds.



J. L. ODONNELL.

COVER FOR ATHLETIC GROUNDS. APPLIUATION FILED ooT.1s, 19o'9.

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J. L. ODON-NELL. COVER PoR ATHLETIC GROUNDS.

APPLIOATION FILED 0OT.13l 19,09.

974,091. Patented oct.25,19'1o.

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THS Naums PETERS co., wllsxmaron, n. c.

TOI-IN L. ODONNELL, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

COVER FOR ATHLETIC GROUNDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 25, 1910.

Application filed October 13, 1909. Serial No. 522,432.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN L. ODONNELL, a citizen of the United States,and resident of St. Louis, Missouri, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Covers for Athletic Grounds, of which thefollowing is a specification containing a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart hereof.

Myinvention relates to improvements in the construction of athleticgrounds and a removable cover therefor to protect the ground from rain,the primary object of my invention being to construct drains eitheraround or through an athletic grounds to provide a cover ofwaterproofmaterial for the grounds and to locate in said drains meansfor moving said cover either over or off of the grounds and to providemeans in some of the drains to secure the margins of the cover opposedto the margins acted upon by the means for moving the cover.

A further obj ect of my invention is to construct a movable cover forthe drains which movable cover is provided with an upper face ofyielding material.

For the above purposes my invention consists in certain novel featuresof construction and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter morefully set forth, pointed out in the claims and illustrated in the accomfpanying drawings, in which:

Figure 11s a diagrammatical view illustrating the arrangement of myimprovedi drains and movable covers therefor as ap-` plied to a baseball diamond; Fig. 2 is an enlarged, longitudinal, sectional elevationthrough one of the end drains showing the l relative positions of theintersecting drains andthe arrangement of the cover for the diamond asin use; Fig. 3 is a plan of the means whereby the cover is either drawnover the grounds to cover them or drawn over the grounds to uncoverthem; Fig. 4 is a transverse, sectional elevation through one showingthe arrangement of the windingy drums and ropes for drawing the coverover the grounds to cover them; Fig. 6 is a transverse, sectionalelevation through one of the side drains, showing the cover completelywound upon the winding shaft and the movable padded cover for the drainin position closing the drain; and, Fig. 7 is a transverse,

sectional elevation through the central drain paralleling the end drainand shows the means whereby Lthe margins of the waterproof cover,opposed to the ends operated upon by the winding means, are securedwithin the drain.

The drawings represent my improved drains and cover as applied to a baseball diamond, but it is obvious that with slight changes andmodifications the same may be applied to any outdoor athletic grounds.

` In the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the sidedrains, 2 thecentral drain paralleling the side drains.

. 3 designates the end drains and t the central drain paralleling theend drains.

As shown in Fig. 2 the surface of the diamond inclines from left toright between the left hand side drain 1 and central drain 2 and betweenthe central drain 2 and right handside drain 1 and all of the drains areof substantially the same depth so that all of the water from thegrounds may be conveyed through said drains and carried oft' from thelowermost drain by any suitable means, not shown, such as tiling or thelike.

Each of the drains is preferably provided with reinforcing lining whichis provided at their upper ends with opposing shoulders 5 and saidlining is preferably made. to terminate a slight distance below theground line. Supported upon and secured to the lining is a pair ofyielding strips 6 arranged to be flush with the ground, and, arranged tobe supported upon the shoulders 5, is a removable cover 7 having a pad 8secured thereto, which pad is of sufficient width to engage the innermargins of the strips 6 and is arranged to be flush with their upperfaces.

Arranged in the drains l are the shafts 9 and 10 supported by thestandards 11 upon the bottoms of the drains. Arranged to wind upon theshafts 9 are the two flexible waterproof covers 12 of a lengthsufficient to cover the portions 13 of the diamond, and, arranged uponthe shafts 10 are the two ieXible waterproof covers 14 of a lengthsuflicient to cover the portions 15 of the diamond and each of theflexible covers 12 and 14 is of a width suflicient to reach from itswinding shaft to the drain 2. Thus it is obvious that there areal'togther four covers, one for each of the portions separated by thecross drains as shown in Fig. 1.

The free margins of each of the flexible covers 12 and 14 are providedwith a series of eyelets 16. Secured within the eyelets on the marginsof the flexible covers, opposed to the margins wound upon the shafts A9and 10, are a number of ropes or cables 17.

Arranged within the drain 2 is a plurality of bearings 18 and supportedwithin said bearings are shafts 19, 20, 21 and 22 and carried by saidshafts and secured against rotation thereon, are a series of drums 23,corresponding in number to the ropes 17 and to which the ends of theropes 17, opposed to their ends secured to the eyelets 16, are secured.

Each of the shafts 19, 20, 21 and 22 is provided with a gear wheel 24and meshing therewith are the idle-rs 25 arranged upon the shafts 26,and meshing with the idlers 25 is a pair of gear wheels 27 and 28arranged upon the shaft 29, and, carried by the shaft 29 is a sprocketwheel 30.

Arranged in the opening 31, which communicates with the drain 2, is amotor 32, and embracing the shaft of the motor is a sprocket wheel 33which is connected to the sprocket wheel 30 by means of the chain 34 andconnecting with the sprocket wheel 33 is a crank arm 35.

Each of the idlers 25 is arranged to slide upon their supporting shafts26 and arranged adjacent each of the idlers is a lever 36 whereby theidlers 25 may be moved into or out of mesh with the gear wheels 24 and27 and 28.

Arranged upon each of the winding shafts 9 and 10 is a gear wheel 37 and38 respectively and meshing therewith are the idlers 39 supported uponthe shaft 40 and arranged for moving the idlers 39 longitudinally of theshaft 40 into or out of mesh with the gear wheels 37 and 38 are thelevers 41.

Arranged to mesh wit-h the idlers 39 is a pair of gear wheels 42 and 43mounted upon the shaft 44, and, carried by the shaft 44 is a sprocketwheel 45.

Located within the openings 46, communicating with the drains 1, aremotors, such as 47, and embracing the shafts of the motors are sprocketwheels such as 48, and embracn ing the wheels 48 and 45 are the sprocketchains 49 and connected with the sprocket wheels 48 are crank arms 50.

To support the shafts 9 and 10 and the flexible covers 1 2 and 14,carried thereby, inter-mediate their ends, is a series of rollers 51rotatably carried on the arms 52 which are pivoted within the pockets 53formed in the side walls of the drain 1. Impinging between the arms 52and the bottoni of the drain are expansive coil springs 54 of sufficientstrength to support the shaftand flexible cover wound thereon.

To provide means whereby the fiexible covers are held to preventmovement in a direction opposed to their winding and unwindingdirections, a series of hooks are arranged in the inside walls of theend drains 3 and on each wall of the drain 4 paralleling the end drains,and, are arranged to engage in the eyelets 16. In this manner theflexible cover is secured against being blown from the diamond.

Then it is desired to position the flexible waterproof covers over thediamond the movable padded covers from each of the drains are removedand each of the ropes 17 is unwound from their respective drums 23 andmanually drawn and secured to the eyelets 16 in the free margins of thefiexible waterproof covers and the motor 32 is then set in motion andthrough the medium of the sprocket chain 34 motion is imparted to thegear wheels 27 and 28. The idlers 25 are then brought 'to positionsmeshing with the gear wheels 27 and 28 and also in mesh with the gearwheels 24 which are secured to the shafts 19, 20, 21 and 22 whichimparts a rotary motion to each of the drums 23, thereby winding each ofthe ropes 17 and drawing each of the flexible covers to positionscovering the athletic ground. And, when in such positions two of theirmargins are secured beneath the ground line at one end upon the shafts 9and 10 and their oppo site margins are secured beneath the ground lineby placing the eyelets 16 over the hooks 55 in the end drains 3 and thecentral drain 4, thereby securely holding them against being blown fromthe ground surface.

lV hen it is desired to remove the covers from the diamond, the motors47 are set in motion and through the medium of the sprocket wheels 45and 48 and sprocket chain 49, the gear wheels 42 and 43 are rotated andthrough the medium of the idlers 39 the gear wheels 37 and 38 arerotated thereby imparting motion to the shafts 9 and 10 to wind theflexible waterproof covers into positions uncovering the diamond; andwhen in such positions are wholly beneath the surface of the ground inthe drains 1. The ropes 17 are then detached from the eyelets 16 and arewound upon the drums 23 wholly beneath the surface of the ground in thecentral drain 2.

The padded covers 7 are then placed in positions closing the drains, andby reason of their padded tops 8, they present a surface ofsubstantially the same quality as the ground surface of the diamond.

If, for any reason, the motors 32 and 47 are temporarily inoperative,the winding shafts for the ropes and flexible covers may be operatedmanually through the medium of the crank arms and 50, and it is obviousby reason of the arrangement of the idlers for each of the windingshafts, the shafts may be operated separately or collectively.

To persons familiar with outdoor sports, it is known that a great numberof scheduled games are postponed on account of wet grounds, due to rainsprevious to the times of the games.

By the employment of my improved, flexible, waterproof covering for thegrounds, it is obvious that the grounds may be protected from such rainsprevious to the times of the scheduled games, and, that if it is notraining at the appointed time for such games, the games may be played.

I claim:

l. In combination with an athletic grounds having drains and an inclinedsurface between said drains, winding devices located in said drains,flexible water-proof covers carried by said winding devices and meansfor actuating the winding devices.

2. In combination with a flexible, waterproof covering for at-hleticgrounds, separate means for drawing the cover to positions covering oruncovering the grounds, means for securing the margins against beingblown from the grounds, of drains forVY inclosing the ineansj'jlrerby .tre'le'xi-bleA cover-'isrmoi'ied rand for conveying the water from saidgrounds.

3. In combination with an athletic grounds having drains, of windingdevices located in said drains and iexible waterproof covers carried bysaid winding devices.

4. In combination with an athletic grounds having drains, of windingdevices located in said drains, iiexible waterproof covers arranged onsaid winding devices, and means for actuating the winding deviceswhereby the covers may be drawn to positions either covering oruncovering the grounds and means for securing the margins of the coverwithin said drains.

5. In combination with an athletic grounds having drains, provided withmovable padded covers, of winding devices located in said drains, aplurality of iiexible waterproof coverings arranged on said windingdevices, means whereby the winding devices may be moved eitherseparately or collectively for drawing the flexible covers to positionseither covering or uncovering the grounds and means for securing all ofthe margins of all of the flexible covers beneath the ground surface andin said drains.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inpresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHNpIi. A*QDHQI TI\ELL. 'waaesss if' H. Gr. FLETCHER, E. E. LONGAN.

